Partnership Against Domestic Violence Turns to ProviDyn for Managed IT Support and Strategy

Atlanta, GA (PRWEB) October 10, 2011

Partnership Against Domestic Violence (PADV), the largest nonprofit domestic violence organization in Georgia, has selected ProviDyn to provide managed IT services for its headquarters and two satellite locations. ProviDyn will proactively manage and support PADVs technology infrastructure, giving the organization the benefit of a dedicated IT department.

Early in 2011, unexpected fees and slow response times began to impact the day-to-day success of PADV, prompting the organization to began an extensive RFP process in search of a provider that would deliver cost effective service, support and backups. After meeting with ProviDyn, PADV realized that it was possible to find a provider that would also act as an extension of the organization and drive strategic planning for its growing technology needs.

ProviDyns high level of expertise and willingness to understand our business immediately stood out among the providers we reviewed, said Cathy Willis Spraetz, president and CEO of PADV. Working with ProviDyn has given us the peace of mind that our technology needs are consistently met and a clear understanding of what is necessary for future planning.

We are happy to support the work that PADV is doing and believe in the positive impact it has on women and children in Georgia, said Hamish Davidson, president and co-founder of ProviDyn. With tight budgets and minimal resources, nonprofits like PADV should be able to rely on an expertly managed network at a price that is both predictable and reasonable.

About ProviDyn

ProviDyn provides technology expertise, services and support to Atlanta-area small and medium-sized businesses. Backed by certified technology professionals, ProviDyns services include managed services, cloud computing solutions, virtualization, help desk and computer support, IT strategy, network security, backup and disaster recovery and IP telephony. ProviDyn delivers the right mix of technology and expertise allowing its clients to focus on growing their business. To learn more about how ProviDyn is Driving Business Through Technology and helping companies reduce costs, improve efficiency and maximize productivity, visit http://www.providyn.com.

About Partnership Against Domestic Violence

PADV is the largest and one of the oldest nonprofit domestic violence agencies in Georgia. Serving metro Atlanta, PADV helps to transform the lives of approximately 18,000 women and children every year through emergency intervention, violence prevention and long-term advocacy. PADVs mission is to end the crime of intimate partner violence and empower its survivors. Visit padv.org or follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

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Partnership Against Domestic Violence Turns to ProviDyn for Managed IT Support and Strategy

After Successfully Moving to Managed Services with ProviDyn, Partnership Against Domestic Violence Takes Advantage of the Cloud

Atlanta, GA (PRWEB) January 31, 2012

ProviDyn, a provider of IT support, strategy and services for small and medium-sized businesses, announced today it has migrated Partnership Against Domestic Violence (PADV) to private cloud services. Taking advantage of ProviDyns private cloud will allow the organization to better share information across multiple locations, efficiently and cost effectively.

Six months ago, PADV selected ProviDyn to provide managed technology services for its headquarters and two satellite locations. ProviDyn was able to assess and stabilize the organizations existing network and provide recommendations for upgrading equipment when the budget became available. To conserve funds, ProviDyn suggested that PADV consider private cloud services which would conserve budget, offer seamless sharing of data and information across locations and give the organization access to a stable server environment and updated applications.

Private cloud services can make a world of difference for a small or medium sized business that might not have the resources, space or cash flow to create and maintain a solid technology infrastructure, said Hamish Davidson, president and co-founder of ProviDyn. PADV is a great example of how moving to a private cloud can allow a business to do more, with less money and fewer hassles.

The cloud has increased our operational efficiency and delivered a truly cost effective solution to sharing information across our network, said Meagan Fulmer, vice president of development for PADV. ProviDyns technology enhanced the way our teams collaborate which makes it a lot easier for us to save the women and children we serve.

With private cloud services from ProviDyn, companies benefit from:

Remote Access – Access files and data from anywhere, anytime

Hosting of Critical Business Applications – ProviDyn manages and supports all business applications, automatically keeping them up-to-date and running at peak performance

Security Proper encryption and expert firewall management provides deep layer security for a companys critical information and systems.

Cost Savings – Eliminates the need to make a large investment in equipment, along with hiring personnel for technology management and support

Scalability Enterprise class systems priced to fit client needs and the flexibility to quickly and easily expand as the business grows.

Backup and Restoration Replication and backup of data and systems to protect critical data and allow for rapid restore in response to a critical event

About ProviDyn

ProviDyn provides technology expertise, services and support to Atlanta-area small and medium-sized businesses. Backed by certified technology professionals, ProviDyns services include managed services, cloud computing solutions, virtualization, help desk and computer support, IT strategy, network security, backup and disaster recovery and IP telephony. ProviDyn delivers the right mix of technology and expertise allowing its clients to focus on growing their business. To learn more about how ProviDyn is Driving Business Through Technology and helping companies reduce costs, improve efficiency and maximize productivity, visit http://www.providyn.com or follow us on Twitter.

About PADV

Headquartered in Decatur, GA, PADV operates the largest domestic violence organization in metro Atlanta. PADV provides comprehensive prevention, community education and advocacy programs in efforts to end domestic violence. PADV touches the lives of over 27,000 women and children each year and the funds raised stay in Georgia. Visit http://www.padv.org to learn more about how to get involved.

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After Successfully Moving to Managed Services with ProviDyn, Partnership Against Domestic Violence Takes Advantage of the Cloud

Digitalrep Upgrades its Infrastructure to Protect Against Disasters

Portland, OR (PRWEB) March 12, 2012

Digitalrep LLC announced today that is has made significant infrastructure upgrades, together with new cloud services that further improve the companys capability to store and secure its customers critical data with great efficiency and particularly, in the case of a disaster that could cause a long term electrical outage or destroy a facility.

Natural disasters can cause disruption to any business to all or part of any organizations operations, affecting an immediate loss of important data, revenue, or both. The sheer magnitude of recent disasters, including floods, wind storms, and the like has demonstrated that many companies are simply unprepared, and has helped drive a fundamental re-thinking of comprehensive disaster recovery and continuity plans throughout the industry.

Digitalrep recently deployed the Hewlett-Packard Companys Systems Insight Manager in all of its servers HP Proliants which enables the company to proactively monitor server health, and to identify predictive failures before they actually happen. Other investments made recently by Digitalrep include the launch of its Data Center II (DC2), a hot co-location site 200 miles from the companys primary data center in downtown Portland. DC2 is always poised to step in as a backup for the companys primary facility, in case of any physical plant issue there and ensures that Digitalrep customers wont miss a beat, should a switch over be required.

We believe that security is the key to everything we do for our customers, said John Meaney, President at Digitalrep. Beyond viruses and hackers, which are, of course important security for our customers extends to our ability to function flawlessly in the event of an unplanned disaster of any proportion. The investments weve made over the last few months ensure our ability to do just that.

Digitalrep runs a best practices environment, utilizing the best new technologies, its own experience, and knowledge to comprehend every potential problem that might arise, providing Digitalreps customers with the security and knowledge that the information technology infrastructure running their businesses is the most secure and most advanced available.

About Digitalrep LLC.

Digitalrep, the company that turns data into decisions, is the first to deliver an affordable solution for same store analysis in category management to both retailers and CPG companies. The company was founded in 1999 in Portland, Oregon.

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Metasploit Exploit Demonstrated Against a Model Train Set Controlled by an Allen-Bradley MicroLogix PLC at NERC GridSecCon 2012

San Diego, CA (PRWEB) October 20, 2012

NERC hosted its second Grid Security Conference (GridSecCon 2012) on October 16-18 in San Diego. The conference brought together industry and government security professionals to discuss grid security concerns, trends, and best practices. The conference covered topics including emerging industrial control system security issues, social engineering and spear phishing, electromagnetic pulse threats and security crisis management. Over 250 people attended the NERC GridSecCon 2012 in San Diego, CA. The annual conference included keynotes and presentations from Gerry Cauley, NERC President and CEO; Admiral Thad Allen, USCG (Ret.); and, Mark Weatherford, Deputy Under Security for Cybersecurity, Department of Homeland Security.

Matthew E. Luallen, CYBATI Co-Founder and President, discussed social engineering tactics and used live demonstrations to emphasize how socially engineered trusted access can debilitate a control environment. Luallen has been researching and developing education academically and professionally for control system asset owners, CERTs and government agencies and this was the first conference with a full demonstration. Luallen serves many roles as the President of CYBATI, adjunct faculty at DePaul University, and as a certified instructor for the SANS Institute. Through Mr. Luallens work at DePaul University he was a co-author of a recent paper entitled, Developing a Critical Infrastructure and Control System Cybersecurity Curriculum accepted by the Infrastructure Security mini-track at the 2013 Hawaiian International Conference on System Sciences.

Using a model train set to physically represent the harm that could be introduced, Luallen presented his new Metasploit module crafted in less than two hours that could fault an Allen-Bradley MicroLogix Programmable Logic Controller (PLC). As the fault occurred the train stopped and the PLC need to be manually cleared and enabled. Luallen also provided in the presentation mitigating controls for the exploit. Luallen stated, “The exploit will only be successful if it can flip the bit telling the controller to fault. This can be controlled by limiting remote access to the controls network as well as investigating adding a new line to the controller’s logic to restrict the bit manipulation.” Luallen stressed that any changes to a control environment should be sufficiently tested and validated by the asset owner’s and/or vendor(s) prior to implementation. Luallen also stated that he has been in contact with the ICS-CERT and Allen-Bradley / Rockwell Automation for several weeks to ensure asset owner’s were properly notified prior to the public release of the exploit.

Critical infrastructure, control systems and their cyber assets that support them continue to be in the news from Stuxnet over two years ago to recent attacks against the Energy sector. The common theme throughout the NERC conference was a lack of a skilled cybersecurity aware workforce to address this challenge. Specifically more physical security personnel, operations, management and IT need enhanced cybersecurity skills to understand the risk, enable mitigating controls, monitor for unapproved access and respond appropriately. Only a few specialists offer education to help address this cybersecurity challenge Digital Bond, Lofty Perch, Red Tiger Security and CYBATI.

Additionally, Luallen discussed what socially engineered information would be of most interest to an attacker, how they may go about collecting it, attack vectors to gain trusted access, and then what they may do once inside the trusted perimeter. The efforts included both physical and cyber mechanisms from a hardware modified technicians cable used to administer a PLC to the ease of using the Social Engineering Toolkit included in BackTrack 5 to craft a backdoored executable that will evade anti-virus. Luallen also demonstrated how easy it is to alter device states using an opensource Modbus/TCP command line added to the BackTrack distribution. Modbus is natively unauthenticated and if an attacker can gain access to the communications channel, have knowledge of specific tags or points, and understand or be able to alter the programmable logic the attacker can create conditions that may even lead to potential loss of life. This is exactly what Stuxnet is believed to have performed against the centrifuges located at the Natanz enrichment facility in Iran. Luallen stressed continuously how important it is to protect the logical design of the controlled environment, as targeted attacks will attempt to simultaneously physically disable the correct sensors, controllers and/or communications channels to create the adverse and unsafe conditions. Examples given during the presentations were associated with reviewing master stops, safety systems and for the electric sector, load shedding programs.

The full presentation from the conference is available for download at CYBATI’s website.

Metasploit Exploit Demonstrated Against a Model Train Set Controlled by an Allen-Bradley MicroLogix PLC at NERC GridSecCon 2012

Partnership Against Domestic Violence Benefits from ProviDyns Private Cloud, Relocates Headquarters with Ease

(PRWEB) September 28, 2012

ProviDyn, a provider of IT support, strategy and services for small and medium-sized businesses, announced today that its longstanding client, Partnership Against Domestic Violence (PADV), has relocated its headquarters with minimal downtime, taking advantage of ProviDyns private cloud. When migrating to the cloud almost a year ago, PADV immediately realized the benefits of lower cost and increased efficiency but did not foresee the positive impact it would have on moving the organizations headquarters.

Small and medium-sized businesses are often forced to relocate when they outgrow office space or need to consolidate multiple offices into one location. For any growing organization, this can be a stressful time that presents logistical challenges and a decrease in productivity associated with moving and reconnecting servers, computers and other equipment. For PADV, ProviDyns private cloud eliminated the need for physical relocation of its infrastructure and allowed employees to remotely access data and continue working with ease throughout the move.

Relocating is a big decision and makes a significant impact on any small business, said Hamish Davidson, president and co-founder of ProviDyn. With a private cloud, organizations like PADV are able to handle this challenge without the added stress of moving equipment and preserving data.

Women and children across metro Atlanta rely on PADV 24/7 for emergency intervention, so it was imperative that we maintain access to critical data and continue operating while relocating our headquarters, said Meagan Fulmer, president and CEO of PADV. With ProviDyns private cloud, we avoided the hassle of moving equipment and worrying that our employees would be unable to work. This made a big impact on the success of our relocation.

About ProviDyn

ProviDyn provides technology expertise, services and support to Atlanta-area small and medium-sized businesses. Backed by certified technology professionals, ProviDyns services include managed services, cloud computing solutions, virtualization, help desk and computer support, IT strategy, network security, backup and disaster recovery and IP telephony. ProviDyn delivers the right mix of technology and expertise allowing its clients to focus on growing their business. To learn more about how ProviDyn is Driving Business Through Technology and helping companies reduce costs, improve efficiency and maximize productivity, visit http://www.providyn.com or follow us on Twitter.

About PADV

PADV is the largest and one of the oldest nonprofit domestic violence agencies in Georgia. Serving metro Atlanta since 1975, PADV helps to transform the lives of approximately 18,000 women and children every year through emergency intervention, violence prevention and long-term advocacy. PADVs mission is to end the crime of intimate partner violence and empower its survivors. Visit padv.org or follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

About Intimate Partner Violence in Georgia

Intimate partner violence is widespread. In 2010, there were 130 domestic violence-related homicides in Georgia, a five percent increase over the previous year. Georgia is ranked 6th in the nation for its rate of men killing women. One in four women will experience intimate partner violence. According to the CDC, domestic violence costs more than $ 8.3 billion annually through increased health care costs.

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